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If Donald Trump and his close advisers think China's economy is tottering on the brink and acutely vulnerable to pressure, they are sorely misinformed.

The Chinese labour market is as tight as drum. The ratio of job openings to job seekers is at a record high of 1.24, and it is the abundance of jobs for teeming urban migrants that matters for the Communist Party.

Construction is picking up after a slowdown earlier this year. Industrial profit margins are at a seven-year high of 7pc, despite a spate of high-profile defaults - which merely means that China is willing to let them default.

The state-controlled banking system can roll over bad debts for as long as it wants, albeit at a cost of lost...